Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more than expected and continued to show the strength of the American labor market, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 28 decreased by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 246,000 from the previous week’s total of 260,000 which was revised from an initial reading of 259,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 9,000 from the original reading to 250,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims below the 300,000-level are usually associated with a firming labor market.
Meanwhile, continuing jobless claims in the week ended January 21 also declined to 2.064 million from 2.103 million in the preceding week, which was revised from 2.100 million.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to decrease to 2.065 million.
The four-week moving average was 248,000, a 2,250 increase from the previous week's 245,750 (initially 245,500).
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Immediately after the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0808 compared to 1.0805 ahead of the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2559 from 1.2543 earlier, while USD/JPY traded at 112.25 compared to 112.27 before the publication.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 99.38, compared to 99.41 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures fell 49 points, or 0.25%, the S&P 500 futures lost 6 points, or 0.27%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 10 points, or 0.20%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,225.45 a troy ounce, compared to $1,225.55 ahead of the data, while U.S. crude oil traded at $53.98 a barrel from $53.97 earlier.